Thursday 9 March 2017

The CIA can read your WhatsApp messages and more: WikiLeaks

When did you hear about WikiLeaks last? This time the organization, known for leaking important official government documents and files, has leaked the database of US-based central Intelligence Agency data.

Codenamed "Vault 7" the data includes more than 8,700 files that are claimed to be from the CIA itself. Of course, the information has not been verified, so take this with a grain of salt.

Wikileaks says the CIA has lost control of a major file containing information about how they hack devices. The data fell into the hands of US government hackers and contractors in an unauthorized manner, one of whom has provided WikiLeaks with portions of the archive.

Read More: Apple, Samsung is determined to correct defects after CIA hacking report

Devices CIA can Hack

If reports are true, the CIA can hijack devices from:

  • Android phones
  • iPhones
  • Smart TVs (the report mentions Samsung TVs specifically)
  • Routers
  • Windows and Linux computers
  • Mac computers

The CIA Can Read Your WhatsApp Messages

Another important revelation by WikiLeaks was that the CIA can read your WhatsApp messages before they are encrypted. It is true that end-to-end encryption does not deter CIA at all. Indeed, if the CIA hacks into your phone, they can access whatever they want. Does not matter if your messages are encrypted, if the CIA can read them when you are typing them or reading them yourself, end-to-end encryption is pretty much useless.

The operating system is to blame

Note that this is not an outdated encryption. Encryption prevents messages from being read after being sent from your phone. This helps prevent hackers from siphoning from public Internet to read private messages.

The problem here is the operating system and not the applications running with both Apple's iOS and Google's Android being hacked by the CIA.

According to the reports, CIA hacked the above-mentioned devices in a myriad of ways including:

  • malware
  • viruses
  • trojans
  • zero-day exploits (security flaws in an OS which the manufacturer doesn’t know of, so they haven’t been fixed)

Problems May Have Been Fixed:

The documents cover the CIA program from 2013 to 2016. It does not yet know whether the CIA continues to use the same methods to hack these devices or not. The operating system versions are not specified, it is possible that some of the exploits and zero-day problems have been corrected.

Via CNet

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